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4 Stars / Contemporary / Review

Audiobook Review: Wild Card by Tara Wyatt 🎧

Wild Card Tara Wyatt Dallas Longhorns

Hunter Blake is baseball’s bad boy. He’s wild, with a reputation a mile long. He’s fodder for both the sports and gossip pages, but Hunter has a secret even the tabloids don’t know: he’s madly in love with country singer Marlowe Story and has been for months. He’ll do anything for her, including staying married after they drunkenly say “I do” at a Vegas wedding chapel during a weekend hookup. Under the guise of helping both of their careers, he’s happy to stay in the fake marriage, especially because his feelings for her are anything but fake. And now is his chance to show Marlowe what they could have.

Marlowe might sing about love and fairy tales, but she doesn’t believe in happily ever after, especially when it comes to bad boy Hunter. Even if he is the sexiest man she’s ever met, and even if their chemistry is off the charts. When she can’t seem to stay out of his bed, she convinces herself that she can give him her body without giving him her heart. But their fake marriage starts to feel awfully real as she glimpses a sensitive, artistic, vulnerable side of Hunter he keeps hidden from everyone but her.

Because deep down, this bad boy is broken, and only Marlowe’s love can heal him.

Title:Wild Card
Author:Tara Wyatt
Narrator(s):Alyssa Avery
Bradley Ford
Series:Dallas Longhorns (Book 2)
Pages / Length: 216 / 6hrs
Category / Genre(s):Contemporary
Audiobook
Trope(s):Temporary Relationship
Fake Relationship
Marriage of Convenience
Bad Boy
Sports Romance (Baseball)
Point of View:Third Person, Past Tense, Dual Viewpoint (H & h)
Narration Type:Dual
Location:Dallas, Texas, USA
HEA:âś”
Release Date:5th October 2021 (E-book released 25th Feburary 2020)
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Sweet and sexy sports romance

4 stars

This is the second book in Tara Wyatt’s Dallas Longhorns baseball romance series after the excellent Stealing Home. If you’ve read that book, you will be delighted that Hunter is getting his own book. If you’re new to Ms Wyatt or the Dallas Longhorns, this book still stands completely alone and you don’t need to have read any others to fully understand this story.

This is quite an unusual premise for a story as from the beginning the pair are in love with each other – even if Marlowe isn’t quite ready to admit it yet. And after love comes marriage – which is really where our story begins.

For me, Hunter was very much the stand out character in this story. He’s a bad boy, sure, but we can tell from the first that his motivations aren’t just being bad – he’s actually a sweetheart and his heart is always in the right place. It’s also in his complete adoration for Marlowe that we see the best of him. He’s hugely likeable and I just wanted him to work himself out so he could get things right with Marlowe. As a narrator, Bradley Ford is excellent. He has a sexy and compelling voice that felt a perfect fit for Hunter. He was clear and it was a joy to listen to him talk.

Marlowe herself was also a likeable character. She had some baggage and was understandably cautious about her relationship and feelings for Hunter. But her actions clearly showed her real feelings and it was just a matter of time before she admitted them – assuming Hunter could get his shit together by then! Alyssa Avery takes on the roll of Marlowe on the audiobook and she too was a great narrator and very believable. She’s got a great twang to her voice and although I’m not up on what accent she has, I liked it and she was, like Bradley, very easy to listen to.

“…[a] short, absorbing, sweet and sexy sports romance…”

As a couple, Hunter and Marlowe were cute, sweet and hot. I loved seeing them together and loved that they had a relationship built not just on lust and chemistry but also friendship and a genuine liking for each other. And that’s despite the fact that they spent a lot of time in bed!

As I’m beginning to realise is a signature of Ms Wyatt’s, her characters have depth and while they may have things in their past that are difficult, tragic or upsetting, these are always handled delicately and you never feel bogged down in the emotion of those things. Yet you still definitely feel for the characters and understand how things have shaped them – and perhaps also damaged them a little.

I’m really loving Tara Wyatt’s writings and her Dallas Longhorns series. Up next is Caught Looking and I can’t wait to get my hands on that story. I do wish I had a little more time with Hunter and Marlowe so I could see how they adapt to a real marriage, relationship and family – but maybe I’m just greedy. If you’re a fan of short, absorbing, sweet and sexy sports romance then I would recommend this story to you and if you like to listen to your stories then this is a great choice.

4 stars

Tara Wyatt is a Canadian contemporary romance author. Known for her humor and steamy love scenes, Tara’s writing has won several awards, including the Golden Quill Award and the Booksellers’ Best Award. In addition, she was a 2018 RITA® Finalist for her romantic comedy novella, Until the Sun Sets.

When she’s not hanging out with your next book boyfriend, she can be found reading, watching movies, and drinking wine. Tara lives in Hamilton, Ontario with the world’s cutest dachshund, as well as her husband and daughter.

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Dallas Longhorns Series:

Book 1
Book 2
Book 3
Book 4
Book 5
Scoring Position by Tara Wyatt Cover
Book 6

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